


Saving you up

by Dalankar



Category: Super Junior, TVXQ
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-21
Updated: 2013-03-21
Packaged: 2017-12-06 00:27:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/729591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dalankar/pseuds/Dalankar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The princes of the land, crown prince Jungsu and princes Yesung, Donghae and Ryeowook are cursed by their kingdom's great wizard.  Even as they search for a way to break the curse, Donghae cannot bring himself to regret because if not for this curse he would never have met Hyukjae.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Saving you up

**Author's Note:**

> Hyukjae's birthday present: Part 1.

 

Donghae leans back against his metal box. It is cool against the bare skin of his back. He really should be used to it now. He knows Hyukjae would be doing the same in the box next to him. And Jungsu hyung above him and Yesung hyung below him and lovely Ryeowook on his other side. And as if on cue-

 

"Donghae," Hyukjae's voice is hushed even if the curtains haven't been opened yet. He can hear the excited buzz beyond it. Dozens of distinguished, filthy rich men and women waiting for their fun. Donghae adjusts the mask over his eyes and leans his head back against the wall.

 

"Yes?"

 

Hyukjae pokes his head in to Donghae's cubicle. He looks ravishing, all that carefully mussed dark hair and pale skin. The blue mask sparkles in the light of the room. Hyukjae smiles at him. Donghae smiles back and wonders what would have happened if they had met under different circumstances. His heart twists a little at the thought of never finding Hyukjae. He thinks it doesn't matter. Because this is where they are now and they have met. Hyukjae makes all of this bearable when he is smiling at him like this.

 

Donghae leans up and closer, hand touching Hyukjae's fingers wrapped around the edge of the cubicle.

 

"Be safe today," Hyukjae whispers and Donghae leans even closer and kisses him lightly and longingly on the lips.

 

"You too," he says and then the curtains start opening and Hyukjae immediately leans back and out of Donghae's sight.

 

He leans back against the cool metal of his prison and listens to the bidding. Yesung hyung is first today. Donghae closes his eyes and tunes it out and digs his nails in to his palm when it's Ryeowook's turn and wishes that the wizard had killed them all instead.

 

\---

 

Donghae gladly gets into the car when Shindong comes to pick them up, curling up against the window and looking out at the world tiredly. Yesung hyung and Ryeowook gets in the back with him and Jungsu hyung is sitting at the front, talking to Shindong in a quiet voice.

 

They pass Hyukjae walking on the side of the road and Donghae turns his head to follow him.  Hyukjae looks tired too, wrapped up in a huge coat and scarf against the cold. No one comes to pick him up. Donghae knows he has a brother, and that brother is the reason why Hyukjae is doing this. But nothing else. Donghae knows next to nothing about this boy that makes his heart beat so much faster when he smiles.

 

"You like him, don't you?" Ryeowook asks from beside him, Yesung hyung had fallen asleep already, head on Ryeowookie's shoulder.

 

Donghae watches Hyukjae until the car makes a left turn and Hyukjae disappears from view.  He shrugs in answer but can't help the smile on his face. Ryeowook reaches out and takes his hand, fingers wrapping firmly around his'.

 

"I'm happy for you, hyung," Ryeowook says, smiling at him and Donghae gently presses his lips to the bruise on Ryeowook's cheek and settles his head on Ryeo's shoulder.

 

He falls asleep thinking about Hyukjae's smile.

 

\---

 

So it happened like this.

 

When their father first became king, he entrusted the help of a great wizard to protect his kingdom. But the wizard, although good and kind hearted at the start, soon became corrupted with power. And the king had no choice but to banish him. A wizard as powerful as this would never go quietly, and so the wizard cursed the king's sons to punish the king.

 

_Let them be used, as you have used me, by those who have power over them, by those who will only see them as tools to be used, let them feel how it is to be diminished._

 

_Or they will watch those they love die._

 

The wizard cursed them and disappeared.

 

So the princes gave their nights and their bodies so that their family would be safe. They would always protect each other even unto the ending of the world. Even as they searched for the wizard, for a way to break the curse, every night they submitted themselves to those who would use them for their pleasure. The princes of the land, crown prince Jungsu and princes Yesung, Donghae and Ryeowook, paying the price for their father's judgement.

 

Their best knight, Kangin, a man who loved the royal family and held the heart of crown prince Jungsu, went forth to find the wizard, while the select few at the palace who knew about the curse like the court Wizard Heechul, dedicated themselves to find a way to break the curse.

 

It has been a year already and so far their searches have yielded nothing. And the princes are slowly starting to lose hope.

 

\---

 

"Can't we send Ryeowook away? I can't bear him doing this!" Yesung asks, running a hand through his hair in frustration.

 

Donghae looks up from where he'd been reading one of the books the great wizard had left behind, to look at their elder brother.

 

"Don't you think I want to? If I could I'd send you all away and serve this punishment on my own," Donghae's heart breaks a little at the pain in his brother's voice, "But I can't. If Ryeo leaves then we all die, if we try to avoid the curse in anyway, we all die. Maybe death will be better than enduring this for eternity," Jungsu whispers and Donghae and Yesung are beside him in an instant.

 

"Don't say that, hyung," Donghae sits down beside his brother and wraps an arm around him. Yesung does the same from the other side.

 

"We will beat this. There are no unbreakable curses in this world," Yesung says confidently and Jungsu smiles at them both, so sweetly and thankfully.

 

"As long as we're together, we'll be fine," Donghae says and smiles when his elder brother kisses him on the forehead.

 

\---

 

Donghae rips the mask off his face and throws it at the wall in anger. He watches it hit the ground when he realises he is not alone in the room.

 

Hyukjae is sitting cross legged on the coffee table, Ryeowook gently pressing a compress to a large blue bruise on the side of his chest. Donghae freezes, staring wide eyed at Hyukjae, who looks at him and tries to smile.

 

"Hyukjae," he breathes, rushing over, "what happened?" he asks and feels like an idiot the moment the words leave his mouth.

 

But Hyukjae only smiles.

 

"Things got a little rough," he says and Donghae can't help staring at the bruise, spreading from his ribs down to Hyukjae's hips.

 

"Hyung," Ryeowook says and there is a glint in his eyes as he holds out the compress to Donghae, "Can you do this? I need to shower."

 

Donghae  looks up and Ryeowook smiles sweetly at him, pressing the warm cloth on to his hands.

 

"Hyung," he says to Hyukjae, "I don't think anything is broken but you'll be sore for a while."

 

Hyukjae smiles at Ryeowook, "Thank you, Ryeowook. You didn't have to do any of this."

 

"I did," Ryeowook says and with one last smile at them both, heads towards the bathroom.

 

Donghae looks down at the compress in his hand and lifts it to tentatively touch Hyukjae's skin.

 

"Tell me if I'm hurting you," he says, pressing in gently.

 

"You won't," Hyukjae says and Donghae is focussing on not hurting Hyukjae so much that he almost misses it. He looks up at Hyukjae in surprise when he realises what he'd said.

 

"What?"

 

Hyukjae smiles, all gums and teeth and it is already Donghae's favourite smile.

 

"I said you won't hurt me," Hyukjae repeats, "I know you won't."

 

Donghae looks away from the sincerity in Hyukjae's eyes. "I want to kill him," he says, "The man who hurt you," he clarifies.

 

Hyukjae chuckles softly. "Are you going to kill them all? Everyone who hurts me?"

 

Donghae looks up, "Yes," he says with utter confidence. And conviction.

 

Hyukjae touches his face with a gentle hand.

 

"This was my choice. I knew the risks, Donghae."

 

"Why?" Donghae asks, "Why would you choose this?"

 

Hyukjae looks away, folding both hands in his lap and Donghae misses his touch immediately.

 

"My brother, Kyuhyun, he has magic. But that would be okay because my dad had magic too but," Hyukjae looks at him and his eyes are so sad, "Kyuhyun has too much magic. We have to drain in out of him or it will burn him up. It takes a lot of money to drain that much power," Hyukjae says with a wry smile, "So here I am. Doing the only thing I've been told I'm good for."

 

Donghae can't help it when he pulls Hyukjae into him and wraps his arms around him. Hyukjae makes a little noise of surprise before sighing and relaxing in Donghae's arms.

 

"It's okay," Hyukjae says, "I'm okay. You don't have to worry about me."

 

Donghae presses his face into Hyukjae's golden hair and breathes and wishes they could live in a world without magic, without wizards and wishes he could protect Hyukjae from everything that might hurt him.

 

\---

 

"My brother is an idiot," is the first thing Hyukjae's brother Kyuhyun says when Donghae meets him for the first time. Donghae immediately wants to defend Hyukjae and tell Kyuhyun to appreciate his brother a little more because really he is making an incredible sacrifice for him.

 

But then Kyuhyun smiles, a fond smile filtered with a little sadness. "I don't want him to work there. I don't want all those men to even think about touching him… but he says it's the only way and I can't even get a job because things blow up randomly when I'm around and no one will hire me." Kyuhyun kicks the wall in anger and doesn't even look surprised when a crack appears in the side of the building where his foot had connected.

 

Donghae smiles.

 

"Why the fuck are you smiling?" Kyuhyun asks and Donghae blinks at him.

 

"Kyuhyun! Don't swear!" Hyukjae chides, entering the room with three cups of coffee.  Kyuhyun glares.

 

"Whatever! I'm going to Siwon's place." Donghae expects him to slam the door on his way out and is surprised when Kyuhyun gently closes it instead.

 

"Last time he slammed the door, half the wall went with it," Hyukjae explains, setting the cups down on the coffee table.

 

"Why isn't he apprenticing with a wizard?" Donghae asks, smiling his thanks at Hyukjae for the coffee.

 

"He's too strong. No one wants to take him on."

 

The idea lights up Donghae's brain like a firework.

 

"I think I know someone who might be able to help," he says, wondering what Heechul would make of Kyuhyun.

 

"Really?" Hyukjae asks, eyes bright.

 

"I'll ask him to come visit tomorrow, will Kyuhyun be home?"

 

Hyukjae nods. "Yeah but who is it?"

 

Donghae grins, "You'll see," he says because he hasn't yet thought of a reason to explain how he knows the court wizard, let alone how he can get him to run errands for him.  It's bad enough that Yoochun is lurking around downstairs, Donghae doesn't want Hyukjae to know anything about his heritage.

 

\---

 

He sits up in shock when Jungsu hyung and court wizard Heechul rush into his room like a demon is after them.

 

"What's going on?" he asks, already thinking about how to get to Ryeowook through the secret passage and get him out of the castle.

 

"What do you know about Hyukjae's family?" Heechul demands. Donghae frowns in confusion.

 

"What?"

 

"Donghae-ah. What do you know about him?" Jungsu asks, taking him by the shoulders.

 

"Just… he lives with his brother, Kyuhyun, who has magic. But Heechul, you already  know that."

 

Heechul makes an annoyed sound. "What about his family, what do you know about his father?"

 

"Why are you asking me this? What's going on? Is Hyukjae in trouble? Is he okay?" Donghae asks, panicking.

 

"Hyukjae's fine. Donghae, has he told you anything about his father?" Jungsu asks, voice calmer and looking him in the eyes.

 

Donghae thinks back, tries to remember if Hyukjae had said anything. "Just that his father had magic too but he's gone. Hyukjae and Kyuhyun live alone."

 

"And his mother, did she have magic?" Heechul asks impatiently.

 

"No...I don't think so. He said Kyuhyun got his magic from his father."

 

Heechul and Jungsu share a look.

 

"What is going on?" Donghae asks, not liking the way his brother and the wizard seemed to think that news is significant.

 

"Donghae...we think great wizard Jaejoong was their father."

 

Donghae stares at his brother. "What?" he finally asks, "That's not possible. How can that be?"

 

"Kyuhyun has the strongest magic I've encountered since Jaejoong. It is highly unlikely that his father was anyone but Jaejoong," Heechul says, a matter of factly.

 

"But that doesn't prove-"

 

"You roughly the same age aren't you? Jaejoong got married just after Jungsu was born, although he kept his life private, I know he had a child in the same year as you, Donghae."

 

Donghae looks at Heechul and back at Jungsu. "Even if they are wizard Jaejoong's sons, it doesn't mean anything. They haven't done anything wrong!"

 

"You don't think this is too much of a coincidence? The sons of the man who cursed you coming so casually in to your lives like this?" Heechul asks.

 

"Hyukjae has nothing to do with the curse!" Donghae yells.

 

"It is unlikely that they do, I agree with you on that. But we might be able to use them to get to their father," Heechul says contemplatively.

 

"No," Donghae says, "You won't use them for anything. You don't even know if Jaejoong is still alive, by the stars! Find another way, Heechul, one that doesn't involve ruining their lives."

 

Heechul looks at Jungsu, who sighs. "Is there any other way...you said Kyuhyun is extremely strong in magic. Can't we use that instead?"

 

Heechul flips his hair back in annoyance. "Really, this would be so much easier if we could just-" he catches the expression on Donghae's face with a sigh, "Fine. It is possible that we can use Kyuhyun's magic to break or atleast weaken it, but it will be dangerous because it will require a massive amount of magic. If anything goes wrong not only you but the whole kingdom might be affected," Heechul warns forebodingly.

 

"But you will try?" Jungsu asks, hopefully.

 

Heechul glares. "Yes," he answers tersely and leaves the room in a flurry of golden robes.

 

\---

 

"I know I'm not the brightest person around but I'm not an idiot," Hyukjae says, watching as Donghae ties back his golden mask, "Who are you?"

 

Donghae feels the ribbons slip through his fingers, doesn't realise when his mask falls. "What do you mean?"

 

Hyukjae's eyes narrow. "Don't do that! Don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about. Do you think I haven't seen the royal seal on the car that picks you up in the morning? The guards lurking around when you visited me last week? And the royal wizard? He doesn't answer to anyone but the royal family and yet he came because you asked. So I ask you again, who are you?"

 

Donghae swallows. "I'm sorry," he says finally, "I never meant to deceive you. It was only that I thought if you knew… if you knew who I was, you might turn away from me," he pleads.

 

"I like you already. Why would you think you'd lose me? Please don't lie to me anymore, Donghae."

 

"I am...I'm the third son of Jung Yunho."

 

"You… you're… you're the son of the king? Oh my god! You're a prince! You- but I punched you in the shoulder yesterday, and made you crappy coffee and oh god! I called you an idiot!" Hyukjae falls immediately to one knee, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, your highness, I didn't know."

 

"Hyukjae, please," Donghae blinks back tears, "Please, don't." Hyukjae's head snaps up, eyes wide. "This is why I didn't tell you. I just wanted… I just wanted to be me with you, not the prince."

 

"What are you even doing in a place like this?" Hyukjae asks and Donghae almost smiles at the loss of honorifics.

 

"Long story. I'll tell you but you'll have to get up first," he reaches a hand down. Hyukjae looks at his hand, then back at him. When he finally takes the offered hand, Donghae feels his knees almost buckle with the relief. He holds on to Hyukjae’s hand after he stands up and breathes a little easier when Hyukjae grips back just as tightly.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Born from the SF&S album photo shoot. Many thanks to Yellowleaf for the prompt. Will do my best to continue.


End file.
